Pataki Agrees to DiMaggio Highway as Aides Talk of Rift

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY

Published: March 17, 1999

ALBANY, March 16—
Gov. George E. Pataki agreed tonight to rename the West Side Highway after Joe DiMaggio, but his announcement was partly overshadowed by new tensions with Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, suggesting that relations between the two men are so strained that they have trouble concurring on whether to put up a few street signs.

In the days after DiMaggio's death last week, the Governor had withheld support for the Mayor's plan to give the West Side Highway a new name, saying that he wanted first to consult with the Yankees and DiMaggio's family. Some in the Pataki administration also floated the idea of renaming the Major Deegan Expressway, which passes Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, in memory of DiMaggio instead.

Tonight, Mr. Pataki said for the first time that he would sign legislation to change the name of the West Side Highway, which runs from Battery Place to 72d Street along the Hudson River. (The Henry Hudson Parkway, which runs north from 72d, would not be affected.) Lawmakers are expected to approve the bill later this week.

To save money, the measure calls for a ceremonial, not official, name change. In other words, the state, which operates the highway, would not replace signs referring to the West Side Highway, and maps would continue to be marked with the old name. The state or city would erect several signs along the highway declaring that it now honors DiMaggio. The state had estimated that it would have to spend several million dollars for an official name change.

But while the Governor was publicly lauding DiMaggio, he was said to be privately furious over what his aides called efforts by the Mayor to embarrass Mr. Pataki over the issue. The dispute was the latest in an escalating feud that recalls the vitriol of the 1994 gubernatorial election, when Mr. Giuliani crossed party lines and endorsed the Democratic incumbent, Mario M. Cuomo, who lost to Mr. Pataki.

The Governor's ire tonight was focused on a letter that DiMaggio's lawyer wrote to Mr. Giuliani, which was circulated this afternoon around the Statehouse.

In the letter, the lawyer, Morris Engelberg, assails the Governor for not acceding to the renaming of the West Side Highway, while also questioning his motives. ''To use Joe DiMaggio's name to further any political objective is inappropriate,'' Mr. Engelberg wrote, ''and to attempt to do so at this time -- so soon after his death -- is, in our opinion, in extremely poor taste.''

Mr. Engelberg also threatened to withdraw his backing for the West Side Highway proposal if the state did not authorize it within 60 days.

Asked about the letter, Mr. Pataki told reporters that Mr. Engelberg was ''grossly misinformed.'' The Governor's spokeswoman, Zenia Mucha, suggested that the Giuliani administration had orchestrated the letter to pressure the Governor and hurt his reputation. She noted that Mr. Pataki had never opposed the West Side Highway plan, but had merely called for more discussion before approving it.

''It's beyond comprehension why anyone would want to play politics with this man's memory,'' Ms. Mucha said. ''It's truly disappointing and quite unbelievable that anyone would stoop to this level.''

Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Engelberg tonight both denied the suggestion by Pataki aides that there had been cooperation on the letter.

Speaking to reporters at City Hall, Mr. Giuliani sought to calm the quarrel. He praised the Governor for supporting the plan and seemed to imply that Mr. Engelberg had misunderstood the matter.

''It baffles me to try to figure out why anyone would want to make this into a political dispute,'' Mr. Giuliani said. ''There's no politics in this. This is out of respect for Joe DiMaggio, which the Governor and I both have.''

He added: ''If someone got this confused, if someone tried to play into what they perceive as a political dispute, that's really very unfortunate. That was never my intention, nor was it the Governor's intention.''

In a telephone interview, Mr. Engelberg said he wrote the letter after reading newspaper articles about the debate over honoring DiMaggio. He said DiMaggio had approved of the West Side Highway plan before he died and never would have accepted the Major Deegan Expressway because he did not want his name to replace another's.

''I didn't speak to anyone before I wrote the letter,'' Mr. Engelberg said. ''I'm not looking for publicity. I just wanted to protect Joe's name and image, not throw him into this political arena.''

The two sides even bickered over how the Engelberg letter was made public. The Governor's aides asserted that the Giuliani administration leaked it. The Mayor's aides responded that after Mr. Giuliani received it, they sent a copy to the Governor's office and to legislative leaders in Albany. At that point, they said, they were not responsible for what happened to it at the Capitol.

Though the proposal now appears settled, there could be one hitch. Pataki aides said tonight that they had discovered that part of the West Side Highway, from 59th Street to 72d Street, is also called the Miller Highway, after Julius Miller, a former Manhattan borough president.